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Anne Kim University of Otago in Wellington Thank you to the generous donations from Mr William Robins funding this summer studentship. Headlines 9 Chanel Sullivan University of Otago Thank you to the generous donations from Mr William Robins funding this summer studentship. Chanel Sullivan was born and raised in Christchurch and absolutely loved school as a child. There is no surprise that science was always her favourite subject. When Chanel was nine years old, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which sparked her interest in neuroscience. Then after she experienced the Christchurch earthquakes, she became especially drawn to mental health and resilience. She graduated in 2019 from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Public Health and is currently studying a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Neuroscience. Chanel’s summer studentship project focused on the effect of early-life adversity on brain inflammatory markers that contribute to anxiety in males and females. She specifically looked at a major risk factor for the development of anxiety or depression in early-life stress. Under the supervision of Dr Gina Forster at the University of Otago, Chanel researched the exposure to early-life stress, in the form of social isolation during adolescence to investigate if this would enhance the presence of inflammatory receptors in the brain of both male and female animal models. We asked Chanel what her inspiration was for her research for her summer studentship, to which she replied, “seeing how debilitating anxiety can be for close family and friends is a major reason I wanted to study this disorder. Having experiences with the effects of mental illness has shown me how widespread anxiety disorder is and the silent consequences it has on people.” Anne Kim immigrated to New Zealand when she was four years old, settling in Dunedin. She quickly took up violin lessons as a child and later studied violin performance for five years at the Royal College of Music in the UK with an ‘Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM)’ scholarship. Although she was predominantly interested in the arts and humanities throughout high school, she was always fascinated with biology. Whilst studying music, Anne became increasingly interested in the effect of music on the brain. When she returned to New Zealand, she decided to pursue this interest and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience at the University of Otago, after which she entered medical school and is now in her fifth year in Wellington. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Anna Ranta, Anne investigated whether there is a difference in outcomes between men and women when using intravascular thrombolysis (IVT) on stroke patients. The goal of Anne’s research was to look at the various stroke patients’ pathways to and within hospitals around New Zealand, to assess changes in the stroke service. Anne’s research has already shown a significant improvement in the treatment of stroke in New Zealand, using past data collected by the National Stroke Register. She has also found that women face worse long-term outcomes than men after leaving hospital. We asked Anne to share with us how she went from studying music overseas to having such a strong interest in stroke outcomes. As a medical student, she was drawn to the clinical focus of the project, “part of my job as a summer student was to clean data in the National Stroke Register and as a consequence of that I gained a better understanding of how stroke is managed in the hospital setting. I also gained an appreciation of the importance of data informing service improvements and how the stroke service in New Zealand has benefited from that since the Register was set up in 2015.”